Nostalgia Trap

Our series on the life, work, and legacy of Howard Zinn continues with a detailed conversation about the book that made Zinn famous, A People’s History of the United States. Published in 1980, A People’s History has sold more than 2 million copies, and its bold retelling of major American events and characters remains a lightning rod for both the left and right. Justin Rogers-Cooper joins us to talk about Zinn’s quote-heavy methodology and to examine a few highlights of his counter-narrative. And, of course, Tony Soprano makes an appearance. Here's the whole episode: patreon.com/posts/episode-306-of-w-59643736

In Part One of our series on the life, work, and legacy of Howard Zinn, Justin Rogers-Cooper and I read Zinn’s 1994 memoir You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train and extract some of the juiciest bits of an extraordinary life: Zinn’s Dickensian childhood and seething class rage, his teenage experience with communists and police in 1930s New York City, his participation in World War II bombing raids that killed thousands of civilians, his life as a teacher and public intellectual during the civil rights and Vietnam War era, and his writing of a popular counter-narrative survey of American history that remains his most famous and controversial work, A People’s History of the United States. The series continues on our subscriber feed: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap.

Rax King returns to the Trap to tell us all about her new book Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer, which surveys the wreckage of 21st century American pop culture and finds much to salvage, and even to (gasp) love. From Creed and Jersey Shore to Hot Topic and The Cheesecake Factory, this conversation explores how the line between good and bad taste is often blurrier than we imagine. For bonus episodes and to join our movie club: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap.

Sam Stein is a housing policy analyst and advocate in New York City; his book Capital City: Gentrification and the Real Estate State reveals the horrifying machinations of real estate developers and the neoliberal state, who build massive luxury towers for billionaires while the city’s middle and working class citizens deal with skyrocketing rents, housing shortages, and rampant homelessness. How does this happen? And how do we fight back?  Here's more on the artist who snuck into 111 W 57th St and took these amazing photos: newyorker.com/magazine/2021/03/08/andi-schmieds-billionaire-espionage-art-project And don’t miss Sam’s incredible piece in The Baffler on Manhattan “skinny” luxury towers: https://thebaffler.com/outbursts/faulty-towers-stein  

What is “trauma porn” and what role does it play on the left? Yasmin Nair joins us to discuss her recent piece, “AOC and the Weaponization of Trauma,” which explores the uncomfortable dynamics of race, gender and class at play in the public thirst for graphic stories of trauma, abuse, and suffering, and the toxic place that “trauma” holds in American political culture.   

As he approaches a major personal milestone, our good friend and Nostalgia Trap producer Peter Sabatino joins me for an honest conversation about the role alcohol has played in our respective lives. From the roaring 20s of college-age binge drinking to the high-octane craft IPA world of the hipster dad, we explore how drugs and alcohol become entangled with one’s sense of self, an element of identity that can grow more and more exhausting as the years go by. Is it mid-life crisis time on Nostalgia Trap? I think you know the answer. For the full episode: patreon.com/posts/episode-301-w-58294942

Max Chafkin, author of The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley’s Pursuit of Power (see Episode 294), returns for a conversation all about SpaceX cowboy Elon Musk. Is this guy a tech genius saving the planet from climate change and launching us into a beautiful robotic future, or a capitalist huckster whose only talent is convincing authoritarian states and a loyal fanbase of angry bros to support his business ventures? As Max and I explore in this episode, why not both? To hear the full episode: patreon.com/posts/episode-299-man-57888655

Could a Red Hot Chili Peppers song from 1999 hold the key to understanding the political economy of 21st century tech culture and the globalization of Hollywood’s vampiric vision of human nature? As Justin Roger-Cooper explains on our 300th (!!!) episode, sure, why not?  

This week Freddie deBoer joins me to talk about his recent Substack piece “Smoking Weed Doesn’t Feel Good for Me Anymore, and It Hasn’t for a Long Time,” exploring how cannabis legalization, stronger weed, and just plain getting older have caused us both to interrogate our personal weed consumption and stoner identities. This conversation touches on the politics of criminalization, peer pressure, stoner culture, mental health, grief, weed and the left, and lots more, as we try to come to terms with marijuana’s complicated role in our lives and in the wider world. To hear the full episode: patreon.com/posts/episode-298-w-57598306

Part Two of our conversation with Yasmin Nair on death and grief in the COVID era. Check out Yasmin’s incredible archive of writing, including many of the pieces discussed in this episode, here: yasminnair.com.